Russia, the Netherlands to discuss results of the work of Russia-NATO council and the Kaliningrad problem

Russian and Dutch foreign ministers Igor Ivanov and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will discuss at their negotiations in Moscow on Wednesday the first results of the work of the Russia-NATO Council, the problem of life support provision of Kaliningrad (Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea) within the framework of preparations for the Russia-EU summit, and the OSCE problems. Official representative of the Russian foreign ministry Alexander Yakovenko has told RIA Novosti that the ministers are expected to exchange their assessments of the preparation process for the regular Council of the OSCE foreign ministers (SMID) scheduled for December 6-7 in Porto.

According to Yakovenko, SMID should "map out the tasks for 2003 and for subsequent years, adding to the OSCE agenda the problems of creating the European architecture" and "further develop the dialogue between the member countries on the key issues of security in the Euroatlantic region." The sides will also consider the priorities in the OSCE activity in 2003, during the Netherlands' chairmanship, and such international problems as the situation around Iraq and in the Middle East. Moscow believes that there are all prerequisites for further developing bilateral political collaboration between our countries in the coming years on a wide range of international problems.

The ministers will also discuss bilateral relations. Last year the trade turnover between our countries reached a record-high figure of 5.9 billion dollars. Many Dutch companies working on the Russian market intend to intensify their business in Russia.